What the WWE Network Must Do to Become an Overnight Success

While many fans have started to wonder if this whole WWE Network is just a clever ruse for Vince McMahon and the company to walk away with the investment money, there are still plans to launch this channel.

At this point, though, does anyone care?

There will always be the diehard wrestling fans who buy into whatever the WWE does, but the company isn’t selling this network to them. It is trying to sell major corporations on this idea, and they are having none of it.

It’s clear that the WWE’s plans for this network have gone terribly, and they are still ill-prepared for its eventual scheduled launch in late 2012. The company can save this idea, but they must scrap the current plans and let me help!

Make WWE Network Free

While the WWE is currently planning to charge their viewing audience a monthly subscription fee for the network, the only way to get the most people in the door would be to give it away for free for at least three months.

Many people will have to experience the fun and the action in order for them to justify shelling out the cost of the channel, so giving the network away to the masses for free is a smart choice.

The WWE can still charge for pay-per-views, but allowing the fans to scour the archives of wrestling companies from the past is something that many will find too amazing not to have.

Fans can’t get addicted if the WWE doesn’t let them.

Find Nationwide Cable Providers to Carry the Channel

Not charging for the channel for the first three months is great, but it's moot if the company can’t find a few of the major cable providers to carry the network.

If the current plan is to put RAW and SmackDown on the channel—plus all of the secondary PPVs—the WWE must find a way to allow any fan that wants the network to receive it.

The biggest disaster for the WWE would be watching as there is no major deal in place, and people with Comcast or another huge service provider are without any WWE programming.

That can’t happen.

Entertain All of the Fans

While this sounds obvious because it’s the basis of all forms of entertainment, the WWE must put all of their eggs in this basket and make a channel that is interesting to everyone.

For as great as old wrestling footage is, that’s not enough to keep casual fans around and watching.

There need to be more entertaining shows like the planned Legends’ House reality show to get the fence-sitters to care enough to pay the money.

Add in the fact that the company can corner the market by airing both RAW and SmackDown on its channel, and anyone that likes the WWE will be forced to subscribe to keep up with the federation.

Once they get to the channel, though, they must be entertained if the WWE wants them to stay there.

The biggest fear is that people will tune out instead of paying for the channel, just as many did when Howard Stern made the transition from terrestrial radio to satellite radio.

That fear of desertion is completely justifiable because at this point, I don’t know if I’d pay for the WWE network.

If I won’t, casual fans most certainly will not!

Check back for more on the World Wrestling Entertainment as it comes, and visit Bleacher Report’s Wrestling Page to get your fill of WWE/TNA. For more Wrestling talk, listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot topics you just can’t miss (some language NSFW).

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